


Parallels

by OveliaGirlHaditRight



Category: Phil of the Future
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, But Other Than That Mostly Everything is Canon, Canon, Canon Divergence, F/M, Oneshot, Orphan Keely, Universe Alterations, Written Because We're Now a Hundred Years Before the Future in PotF, canon AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 17:15:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,209
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28514058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OveliaGirlHaditRight/pseuds/OveliaGirlHaditRight
Summary: What if Keely Teslow was an orphan and that led to a very obvious result and happy ending for Phil and Keely?
Relationships: Phil Diffy/Keely Teslow
Kudos: 2





	Parallels

**Present**

_It was when Phil and Keely were in… a certain place, that Phil finally asked the golden question, that Keely was honestly surprised that he hadn’t voiced a long time ago._

_“Keely… are you sad that you didn’t have parents?”  
  
And Keely couldn’t help laughing good-naturedly at this, because Phil should have known her answer to this better than anyone else. “Maybe a little bit… Like, even though I know you’d never hurt me, Phil… When you and I finally started dating, before you had to go back to the future, it would have been nice to have a dad tell you that if you hurt me, they’d kill you: you know, to fill out the sort of clichés that everyone is supposed to have in their lives… But as for the rest of it…”_

**Flashbacks**

Keely felt... good about being invited over to the Diffy’s, even though she was still somewhat shocked to know that they were from the future. But as she sat in their lovely kitchen beside Phil—as he showed off to her a little, by spraying some cookies onto her plate--she could feel his mother's obvious question for her coming from a mile away.

"Keely, if you had wanted to... you could have invited your parents over with you. Knowing that we're from the future must be... difficult for you, I’d imagine. And perhaps you could use the moral support?"

And, naturally—because this _did_ hurt Keely some—she decided to give the easy part of the rebuttal first, as her hand slid against Phil's. "It's fine, really. After flying with Phil on the Skyak, I see how cool this all is... But about my parents? …I don't have any. I was in foster care most of my life. And the few foster families I had… weren't the greatest. They weren't abusive, or anything! But, like, one family got super into the baby that they’d adopted after me—I think they wanted a baby more than a teenager, and could no longer support me _as_ well—…so I ran away. So, then I just decided to make things easier by getting emancipation."

"Keely, what?! You never told me any of this," Phil said, as he adopted a concerned air, that a strange part of Keely wanted to kiss him on the nose for.

“It’s okay, Phil. Really,” Keely tried to assure her friend. But Phil didn’t _seem_ convinced. He opened his mouth to say something… but then must have thought better of it, because he swiftly closed it.

And Keely could tell by the way that Phil’s dad, Lloyd—if she recalled correctly?—was looking at her, that he’d quickly changed his mind on his stance of things. Before, she had thought he was the one in the family against her being told any of this stuff, in order to protect his wife and children, but now it seemed like he would have _happily_ told Keely’s parents about the year 2121, if it had meant that she had some.

“Keely, know that you’re welcome here any time,” Barbara Diffy smiled at the girl—before patting her on the hand once and then leaving the room with her husband, so she and Phil could be alone, Keely would presume.

“Keely-” Phil started again.

But Keely wasn’t ready to truly have this conversation now. Maybe not ever. “Come on, Phil,” she said now, as she began pulling her best friend away—as she desperately needed a distraction—“show me that device you were telling me about, that allows me to see the future’s version of the Internet.”

And here Phil grinned… and it was more beautiful to Keely’s eyes, than she would have liked to admit. “I don’t think you’re quite ready to have your brain blown there, Grasshopper. But let me show you how the Wizard will change your life.”

And once Phil changed Keely into Britney Spears after they entered the living room—and she got to belt out a pretty good rendition of “Oops, I Did It Again” _as_ B-Spears—Keely couldn’t help agreeing that the Wizard was, indeed, life-changing.

…

The next time Keely’s parents came up—or _didn’t_ come up—was when Pim had gone missing after taking the Skyak: a thought that still terrified Keely to this day (even if had worked out okay, in the end), even though she was still miffed that Pim had been buttering them up that day, just so she could sneak off and do something dangerous.

But when Keely had been tasked with watching over Curtis, as Phil went and looked for his sister, Keely had thought for a minute that… it was probably _good_ that she didn’t have parents, so she could stay out and do this thing without having to worry about a curfew

And she especially felt that when Phil and Pim showed up again—after it was super dark—and she was able to wrap her arms around Pim, and tell her how glad she was that she was okay, and not have to think about anything else.

…

But Keely became sad about the prospect of being parentless, one day when Phil told her that the first time he’d seen Keely _hadn’t_ been at school, like she’d thought, but when she’d been the one to put the star on Pickford’s Christmas tree.

As she hung-out with the Diffys on this Christmas (right now, she and Phil were sitting on the couch together and drinking as much hot chocolate as they possibly could), Keely found herself saying, “I sort of wish I’d had parents to be there to see me being honored that way. But it’s really no big deal...”

Phil was quiet for a moment. And Keely thought that he had just gotten wrapped up in watching George Bailey decide he wanted to live again in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. But finally, he took her hand and told her, “…Keely. You know that my parents see you as their daughter, right? And an honorary part of the family? I feel like Pim even sees you as an older sister, even though she’d never admit it. And while I’m sure it’s not everything you’re looking for… just know that you’re not alone and you can belong here, if you want.”

And at Phil’s earnestness, Keely felt a blush coming on… something that seemed to be happening to her more and more where Phil was concerned. She put a hand over her cheek, in order to try and hide it. “Th-thanks, Phil. It means a lot.”

And then Keely did something that surprised the both of them: she leaned in and kissed Phil Diffy on the cheek.

“Keely, wha-” And there was something in Phil’s eyes as he looked at her searchingly then: like maybe he didn’t mind that kiss at _all_ , and would have liked to be more than just friends with her now.

And later, Keely would regret that she’d tried to play it off by pointing above them and whispering, “Mistletoe.”

But at the time, she hadn’t been able to stop smiling. Because even though a new romance hadn’t been kindled—yet—it still had been the best Christmas she’d ever had… Even if she did have the stupid theme song for “Astro Tree” stuck in her head.

…

“Phil… in the future, I’m wearing a wedding ring!”

This memory of Keely’s was one of the ones where she thought she was _glad_ her life had turned out the way it did. Because even though it would have been exciting to let them know that she was engaged in the future… she doubted that anyone would appreciate her going ga-ga over s chocolate diamonds here. Both Tia and Via hated the color brown. And whenever she’d talked about chocolate diamonds with them in the past, they couldn’t figure out why she wouldn’t just want a pristine, white one. And she was sure that any parents she had would have been the same.

And Keely almost had to laugh when Phil asked the question that any (jealous?) guy would, while he prepared The Giggle to look up more information for her. “So, I guess you want to know who the lucky guy is, huh…?”

Keely grinned widely, in leaning closer to Phil. She was starting to think she knew exactly who the lucky guy was going to be, after all. Even if it was still her secret. “No. I'll be surprised.”

But Keely wrapped an arm around Phil’s shoulder, anyway, hoping he’d get the hint.

…

Keely and Phil had finally gotten together. It was a miracle, all things considered. And the entire student body—even their strange principal—seemed to be thinking that that was the case. But Keely liked to believe that she and Phil had been destined to get to this point. And how she was waiting for her first kiss now… her first kiss that Phil would steal.

But that all came crashing down, when Lloyd essentially revealed that he’d known how to fix the time machine for a long time now, but just hadn’t done so because his family had been so happy in the past. But apparently, the Diffys knew they really _did_ have to go home… And they wouldn’t be able to come back, because of some new law in the future that prevented time travel because of their own mishap.

Phil had already left Keely—as far as she knew—and so she prepared to read the school’s news for the day in a depressive state.

…Until Phil surprised her by bursting into her office and telling her he couldn’t leave without telling her goodbye for real.

And then they finally kissed.

And though it was Keely’s first ever one—and Phil’s too, she was guessing—she knew that no other one would ever live up to it. And no guy could ever give her what she and Phil had had together. So, she tried to hang onto his taste of cinnamon as long as she could and make it a part of her.

Phil was leaving before Keely could even think then… but as he did, a thought occurred to her: why was she even staying here? Yes, she had friends and things she loved in these early 2000s. But there was really nothing holding her back from going to 2121 with Phil and his family if they wished it, was there?

And if Phil’s Internet “The Giggle” device had shown her making news broadcasts in such a futuristic setting… didn’t that mean something?  
  
She had another theory she needed to voice to Phil, too.

So, running as fast as her feet would carry her (she’d even ditched her high heels back at school, so they wouldn’t slow her down), Keely made it to the Diffy’s driveway and yelled for Phil as loud as she possibly could as they were about to fly out. “PHIL! PHIL, WAIT!”

…Thankfully, Phil seemed to hear her and got out, before he’d gone somewhere she could never follow.

And while he certainly looked happy to see her—for what he surely thought would be the last time—he also seemed sad, as if Keely was drawing out the inevitable.

“Keely, what is it?” And yet even as he seemed ready to end this, Phil seemed unable from reaching a hand out to cup Keely’s face—something that she happily leaned into.

“Phil… answer me this question. And let’s not beat around the bush here. I think- you’ve liked me for forever. As long as I have you. And with that, I’m sure that your mind jumped to ridiculous future events… like marrying me. And if you had… what kind of wedding band would you have given me?”

Phil seemed somewhat baffled by this at first. But the more he spoke, the more he seemed to say the words that Keely had wanted him to and remember something important with it. “I don’t know. Chocolate diamonds, maybe? I know how much you love the- Wait. Keely!”

Suddenly, Keely found herself in Phil’s arms as the two of them held onto each other and sobbed. “Phil… in the future, I was wearing a wedding band with chocolate diamonds. Do you get it? It was from _you_. I married _you_! Which means I go to the future with you!”

And the way that Phil beamed at Keely then was enough to make the sun ashamed of its lack of power. “Then I think you need to get into the time machine STAT, little lady. And tell my dad that he needs to pull up another seat for you.”

And the two took each other’s hands, and began walking towards the sunset together.

**Present**

_“I never would have dreamt of having parents, Phil, because it would have kept me from being with_ you _.”_

_And Phil’s eyes seemed to twinkle at that, before he leaned down to drop a kiss to Keely’s crown. “I think I can live with that, then.”_

_Together, the two of them walked into the news studio Keely worked at, where they were currently negotiating with the higher-ups to let Phil compose their music for them and then play it._

_And it really_ was _their perfect future._

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to write something for Phil of the Future, since we’re now in the year 2021 and the future part of the show took place in 2121. And since I’ll be dead when 2121 rolls around, here I go.
> 
> It’s also a nice bit of closure for me, as I was always sad about Phil and Keely’s ending. Though I like to think they found a way to be together.
> 
> Also, I doubt that Keely’s wedding ring was filled with chocolate diamonds in that one clip. Just roll with it.
> 
> All of this Phil of the Future stuff is done from memory. I haven’t seen the show in ages. So hopefully there was nothing too egregious here.
> 
> Thanks for reading!


End file.
